Since most medical fluid collection bags, such as urine collection bags, surgical drainage bags and wound fluid collection bags for negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), etc., are supposed to be used for several days or even several months, in addition to the basic demand of leakage proof, smell-less and large storage capability, it is preferred to have such medical fluid collection bags that can be worn or attached comfortably to human body in a concealed manner for enabling the patient wearing such bags to walk or exercise without too much trouble.
An unused medical fluid collection bag or a new medical fluid collection bag that is just being attached to a patient for fluid collection is like a flat balloon, so that it is usually being tied and worn on a patient's body without slipping off by bandage or elastic clothing. However, as the weight and the volume of such medical fluid collection bag will increase significantly after being worn by the patient for a period of time, how to wear such medical fluid collection bag properly and comfortable on the patient's body is becoming a dilemma. That is, if a new medical fluid collection bag is loosely tied on the patient's body, the weight of the fluid being collected in such bag will certainly cause the same to wobble or even move; but if the new medical fluid collection bag is tightly tie on the patient's body, the pressure from the bandage for tying the bag is going to increase with the expansion of the bag which is certainly going to cause discomfort to the patient, or even becoming the cause of resisting for blocking fluid from flowing into the bag.
For those medical fluid collection bags used in negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) or vacuum assisted closure (V.A.C.) therapy, they are structured for receiving cellular waste and excess tissue fluid from a wound that was withdrawn by a negative pressure formed inside the wound as the aforesaid adjuvant physical therapy applies a suction pump to a patch of a bio-compatible porous wound dressing covering the wound. Similarly, such medical fluid collection bag adapted for NPWT or VAC should be configured in such a way that it can be worn on a patient's body comfortably for a conceivable period of time without compromising in any way regarding to the patient's daily operations. However, as such fluid collection bag adapted for NPWT or VAC should be connected to the suction pump, it is required to be made of a material of a specific hardness that, instead of a bag, it is more like a bulky, heavy, directional tank that not only it is can be tilted easily and thus causing the collected wound fluid to back flow, but also it is not convenient for carriage and not pleasing to the eye.
There are already some studies trying to improve such medical fluid collection bag. One of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,018,366, entitled “Vacuum assisted relief system (VARS)”, which includes: a garment, capable of being worn like a diaper or underwear and having an intake manifold comprised of a number of perforated tubes sandwiched between layers of material; an electric pump; and a receiver with electric scale for display amount of fluid being collected. When the garment is worn on a user, urine from the user may be collected in the garment and drawn into the manifold tubes and finally to the receiver by means of vacuum from the pump. Although the aforesaid VARS can be worn easily and comfortable on a user like a diaper or underwear, its receiver is restricted to be mounted and located at a comparative lower position relative to the user's body, such as the user's leg, as the receiver is a directional bag that is detachable arranged. However, such configuration is going to hamper the user's movement since the weight and the volume of the receiver is going to increase several times to hundred times after being used for a period of time.
Another such study is a liquid waste collection chamber assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,918, entitled “Closed coupled urine collection chamber”. The aforesaid liquid waste collection chamber assembly is a flat urine bag provided for liquid waste from the user to flow therein in response to gravitational force. The aforesaid device is advantageous in its small size that it can be adhere to the surface of urethral meatus for urine collection. However, it is disadvantageous in that: it is incapable of allowing a user to aware the amount of urine that had been collected, and it is not comfortable to wear as it is made of hard material.
One another study is a urine receiver disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,220,250, entitled “Urine receiver and urine collection processing system implementing urine receiver”. The urine collection processing system is able to detect urine or humidity automatically by an electric means and is designed to feed the collected urine to the urine receiver. Nevertheless, it is disadvantageous in that: it is heavy and requires an external power supply, and the urine receiver is not designed for carriage and also not capable of being attached to or worn on limbs/torso of a user.